Watercolors
by ZeldaDragon
Summary: Trinity reminisces. "And so began another restless night watching monitors before coming back to an empty room, an empty bed, and an empty heart."


**Where did this come from? I have no idea. I started it a long time ago, and found it the other day in a folder of incomplete thoughts. I do know, though, that it was inspired by Barbra Streisand's _The Way We Were_, hence the title. Not my usual style, but oh well. The memories come in no particular chronological order, but they do have significance in way of where they are placed.**

**Credit for certain ideas and whatnot go out to Centress/Nithke. She's the one that gave Trinity the name Adele. Plus she and I both ride horses. Shoutout to Daydreamer731, since I was talking to her while I was finishing up the last few paragraphs and shared with her my immense joy at finishing.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Surprise, surprise.**

**xxxxxx**

Trinity watched as the chilled water slowly turned her skin a sickly white. The Neb never had a large supply of hot water, so all she usually got was about a minute and a half of warmth before it turned cold. At least she never took long showers. She turned and put her back to the spray to wash away the last of the harsh soap. Goose flesh appeared on her arms.

As the water quickly became colder, she was reminded of a winter when she was eight. It had been snowing for two weeks, and her cousin decided to take her out to the frozen lake on a day when school had been canceled. Once they got there, he handed her a pair of ice skates. Young Trinity -- Adele -- had loved to ice skate, so she hurriedly put the skates on her feet and went out on the ice with her cousin. All was well, and the two had been laughing and playing around when suddenly she had fallen through a thin layer on the surface and into the freezing water.

After that, her memory of the incident was fuzzy. All she could recall was that she had been in the hospital for thirteen days and her parents had been beside themselves with worry. _So young,_ the doctors had said, _she may not make it._ Severe hypothermia. From then until she was fourteen, she refused to leave the house in winter. Full feeling never really returned to her toes.

The sound of the door to the showers opening brought her back to the present. She turned off her water just as someone else turned theirs on in another stall. Trinity grabbed her small towel and dried herself off before slipping into a clean pair of pants and one of her more comfortable shirts. Cold water dripped from her hair and down her back.

_"Hurry to bed, Adele; you'll catch cold just standing there dripping wet."_

Trinity made her way down the dank metal corridor until she reached her door. The wheel was cold to the touch as she twisted it and let herself inside.

_"Oh, dear, you're freezing! Come take this blanket and wrap it around that tiny body of yours!" The blanket was bright orange with little yellow designs in the middle. The girl took it from her mother and wrapped it around her small shoulders. It still smelled of her father._

Trinity curled up in bed and pulled her two thin blankets up under her chin. She was so tired, and her ribs still ached from where she had been viciously kicked by an agent earlier that day. Before closing her eyes, she looked at the digital clock on the shelf across the small room. Three hours to sleep...three hours until midnight.

_"Adele, what happened? Oh, honey, you're bleeding."_

_The thirteen-year-old shook her head from her mother's grasp. "I'm fine."_

_The woman's lips turned downward as she smoothed antiseptic on the cut across her child's forehead. "Did you get into another fight? You always were a stubborn one, just like your father."_

Her eyes shot open as she heard a clang on the other side of the wall by her back. She rolled toward the wall and pounded on the thin metal barrier with her fist.

"Some people are trying to sleep, you know," Trinity called, amusement in her voice when it shouldn't have been. Switch and Apoc, of course. They were always loud.

_Adele hit the hard ground with a thump. She glared up at her horse, who was prancing away toward the other side of the ring._

_"You can't refuse every jump, you know! You just need to face your fear, like it or not." She stood and brushed dirt from her pants. "Now come here and let's try again."_

_They neared the jump again, and this time her horse sailed over it and landed gracefully on the other side. Too bad Adele had been thrown from his back and could only watch from the ground._

Trinity watched the minutes tick away on the clock. Why could she never sleep when she really needed it? Her eyes landed on the book beside her bed. Ghost had given it to her months ago, and she still hadn't finished it. _Brave New World_, by Aldous Huxley. It was pretty good.

She reached an arm out from beneath the covers and picked it up off the floor. Chapter five. As she read the words on the page, she felt a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wished she could talk to Ghost about everything that was on her mind.

_"You're so stupid!" Gracie grabbed her rival's books and threw them down into a muddy puddle, spraying both children with water. _

_"At least my father loves me!" Adele countered, letting her brazen attitude push away whatever common sense she may have had._

_The other girl threw herself at her and the two fell to the ground, pulling at each other's hair as they kicked and screamed. It took two teachers to pull them apart. When they finally separated, there was blood dripping from Gracie's nose and a large lock of dark hair in her hand._

The book dropped to the mattress as Trinity finally drifted off to sleep. All too soon, she was woken by a short rap at her door. Time for her shift, then. And so began another restless night watching monitors before coming back to an empty room, and empty bed, and an empty heart.


End file.
